New Music: DeJ Loaf ‘No Fear’

As fans wait on the Detroit rapper’s debut album Liberated, Lil Loaf unleashes the LP’s bold lead single, “No Fear.” Over an upbeat bounce with pop sensibilities, DeJ sings about love for her high school sweetheart.

“I’m gonna love you with no fears,” she sings. “We can do this thing together / Close your eyes and take my hand / What we have is something special, baby, let’s just take our chance.”

DeJ has been posting teasers the track on Instagram. Most recently, she shared an artistic depiction herself soundtracked by a memorable Grace Jones interview from the 1980s, which explores femininity, masculinity, and more. “I like being both masculine and feminine], actually,” says Jones in the clip. “It’s not being masculine. It’s an attitude, really. Being masculine, what is that? Can you tell me? I just act the way I feel.”

Another stunning clip DeJ unmasking herself, was soundtracked by a famous Nina Simone interview, in which she discuss fear and freedom. “What’s free to me?” she asks. “It’s just a feeling. It’s just a feeling. It’s like how do you tell somebody how it feels to be in love? How are you going to tell anybody who has not been in love how it feels to be in love?”

Finally, a video depicting Loaf as a puppet is backed by David Bowie’s advice to aspiring artists. “I think it’s terribly dangerous for an artist to fulfill other people’s expectations,” he says in the interview. “I think they generally produce their worst work when they do that. The other thing I would say is that if you feel safe in the area you’re working in, you’re not working in the right area.”